Sunday, got up late, not enough time to do Breakfast & get to Club meet so got on with breakfast. Oh
yes there is enough time, I've got 30 mins. to sort myself out & it only takes 20 to get to the
start. Quick change into cycling trouser, grab phone & map, get padlock from other bike & stuff them
all into the saddlebag, run indoors to grab waterbottle and the new strip of patches and stow them
away I am now a minute into my 20mins ride time so rush it a bit & do it in 18 mins so they are
still there!. I was only intending to go as far as elevenses but our leader changed his plans when
we started getting lots of icy roads and I decided to go my own way. Riding on ice is one thing,
riding with a group on ice can be a bit hairy and twice my bike had gone sideways when remounting
after a walked section. Joined a cycle path, this involves a tight left hand "u" turn onto slushy
pavement so get off for this bit. Remounted ok, started & came off. Walked past the icy bit &
restarted ok, saw brake lever had been pushed out of position but ground now firm enough for me to
fix it without stopping. Rather a patchy path, good fast wet, then rough iced slush but I was making
fair progress. After about a mile a bramble snatches my hat off, so stop to recover it, decide hat &
gloves ought to be in bag anyway, BAG IS OPEN! NO MAP, NO PHONE, NO LOCK! PANIC I check my bag 3
times then retrace my route go back a couple of miles, did I really put the map & phone in the bag
or did I leave them behind in the rush? Returned to the cycle path, not so icy now & go home.
"They've been found" was the greeting I got! A jogger found them at the point where I came off &
managed to work my phone to call my home number! Now I ALWAYS do my bag up and I always leave my
phone with keyboard lock set and it switched off so it seems I forgot to do all 3 of these. Belated
New Years resolution, triple check that my bag is done up. Carry the phone with the keyboard not
locked (mine needs an unlock code)
--
IanB
swap my names around to reply to me